Little Shoes is a 1997 film directed by Iranian director Majid Majidi. The film mainly tells the story of the protagonist Ali accidentally lost his sister's shoes. In order not to be beaten and scolded by his parents, the two brothers and sisters carried their parents to find the shoes. "Little Shoes" is the first Iranian film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language. Although it lost to "Life is Beautiful", it has attracted the attention of Iranian films all over the world.
Narrative is one of the biggest features of this film. The film tells the story of Ali losing shoes - looking for shoes - buying shoes, as well as the story of two people changing shoes during the process of looking for shoes and buying shoes. The film is a dramatic structure, and the director arranges different levels of resistance factors in each link to conflict with Ali's character purpose of finding shoes. The first is to look for shoes. Ali lost his sister’s shoes in the vegetable market. During the process of looking for shoes, he accidentally got on the shelf and annoyed the merchant. Therefore, the merchant became the first resistance factor for him to find shoes, so that Ali could no longer be on the shelf. Look carefully for my sister's shoes. The second resistance factor in the process of finding shoes is the blind father. When Ali and his sister found the home of the little girl wearing her sister's shoes, they found that the little girl's father was a blind man, and the family conditions were even more difficult than their own. , the two gave up the idea of returning the shoes, although the two just looked at each other, but it was enough to explain. The second is the process of buying shoes. When Ali lost his shoes and returned home, the picture of his mother arguing with the landlord was enough to show his poor family background. Therefore, the poor family environment became the first obstacle to buying shoes. The income simply cannot buy a new pair of shoes for my sister. When Ali and his father made money after pruning and gardening for a wealthy family, they wanted to finally have the money to buy a new pair of shoes for their sister, but Ali and his father had an accident, and all the hard-earned money paid for their medical bills. The third obstacle is Ali's ranking. Because Ali missed the registration time for the competition, he begged the teacher for a long time to qualify for the competition. In the competition, Ali had to maintain his speed and maintain his third place result. Ali, who was running hard, unexpectedly became the first place. In the end, it was the process of two people changing shoes. Before the two changed shoes, Ali pleaded hard to get his sister to agree to change shoes with him. After changing shoes, the younger sister also raised her dissatisfaction several times. During the process of changing shoes, because the shoes were too big, my sister accidentally dropped them into the sewer, and almost lost Ali's shoes. And Ali, who changed shoes with his sister, wasted too long waiting for his sister to go home, and was almost expelled from the school teacher for being late every day. The reluctance of the younger sister, the warning from the teacher to drop out of school, and the inability of the parents to buy new shoes for the younger sister's family conditions almost pushed Ali into a desperate situation.
Although the storyline of "Little Shoes" is simple, the themes are diverse. Iranian movies are also considered children's movies, so the theme of the first level of the film is the innocence and friendliness of children. The first is Ali and his sister. The two shared joys and sorrows when facing their parents, and passed the book in front of their parents through the two. The exchange, the scene of the two changing shoes, and the parallel montage of Ali's game are all vividly displayed. Before the accident happened, the relationship between brother and sister was also very friendly. When Ali just came home, his sister smiled, the two were happily blowing bubbles by the pool, and when Ali didn't get the shoes for her sister, the sister just smiled and didn't Blame Ali and other plots are revealed. The second is the younger sister and the little girl. The younger sister just saw the little girl wearing her own shoes and did not immediately identify the shoes, but followed her brother to the little girl's house. After seeing the little girl's family situation, even her own conditions were very difficult. But still can't bear to return the shoes. When the little girl picked up her sister's pen, even though she liked it very much, she still gave it to her the next day, which showed the kindness and innocence of the child. In the end, it was Ali and the rich boy in the urban area. When Ali and his father went to cut the garden for others, neither the communication between adults and adults nor the communication between children and adults could be concluded, but when the children talked with children, the business was logical. The reason for the deal was not because the little boy's family needed pruning and gardening very much, and the little boy lacked playmates. The child's innocence, innocence and kindness were all shown at this moment.
The theme of the second level of the film is the gap between the rich and the poor. The whole film revolves around "finding shoes", and the most essential reason for the contradiction is that Ali's family is poor and cannot afford a new pair of shoes. When Ali and his father went to build gardening in a wealthy area, the little boy could ask his grandfather to hire them because he wanted Ali to play with him. When Ali went to the competition, the children of rich families not only had the company of their parents but also exquisite sportswear, while Ali and his sister were worried about a pair of torn shoes everywhere. It can be seen that the phenomenon of the wealth gap in Iran is also one of the themes that the film wants to express. The theme of the third level of the film is the good character of Iranians under the influence of Christianity, whether it is the father's education to his daughter when his sister brings tea to his father, or the little girl who picks up the pen and returns it to her sister, etc. out the theme of this level.
The most exciting part of the audio-visual language of the film can be said to be the climax of the marathon. The director uses a close-up to let the audience see Ali running desperately, as well as the bean-sized sweat and pain on his face, and also uses a voice-over to give The power of Ali, who could not hold on to it, made it full of energy again. Not only that, the director also superbly showed the process of Ali running, falling, getting up, and running again by upgrading the camera and amplifying Ali's voice. Finally, through the parallel montage, the running Ali and the running sister are connected, and the two are connected as a community.
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